Gentle Bear
In ten years, you can touch a lot of lives. By Gallagher Bassett’s count, Gentle Bear has touched 18,000.
GB’s Gentle Bear is our symbol for caring, compassion and charity.
In 2017, he celebrated his 10th birthday with several of the esteemed guests talking about their experience with Gentle Bear and the massive impact it has had on the community. All were of the same view that the program is amazing.
During the coronavirus epidemic, GB released “Gentle Bear’s Big Hibernation” storybook. You can download the storybook here and check out the video below!
So how did it all begin?
Gentle Bear came into existence through collaboration between GB and the South Australia Police Department to reduce Post Traumatic Stress-related injuries. They wanted to do more to help the children they were coming into contact with when responding to 000 calls.
The bears are carried in emergency service vehicles to be given to young children experiencing traumatic events, such as domestic violence and serious road traffic accidents.
The bear serves as an emotional aid to distract a child’s attention from the immediate, distressing situation by providing a recognisable, reassuring and safe object to latch on to.
Where’s Gentle Bear now?
We have seen Gentle Bear grow to become a calming force all over the world.
There are Gentle Bears present in hospitals, schools, Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Kids For Cancer, Candlelighters Children’s Cancer Research Laboratory, Housing South Australia, Department for Communities and Social Inclusion (DCSI), Jane Goodall Chimpanzee Rehab Centre and a number of other charities.
Interested in reading more?
Check out the following articles:
- GB Delivers Additional Gentle Bears to Victoria Police
- Gentle Bear Supports Defence Families and Children
- Helping Salvation Army Provide Support to Domestic Violence Victims
- GB’s Gentle Bear Program Expands to New South Wales
- Providing Comfort to Children Affected by Homelessness in South Australia
- Gentle Bear celebrates his 10th year
- Gentle Bear Goes Sky High with the Royal Flying Doctor Service
- 100 Bears Donated to New South Wales Police
- Gentle Bear Tours the Territory, Provides Comfort to Children in Fiji and Gives Comfort in Time of Need
Interested in following Gentle Bear’s Journey?
This year, to celebrate Territory Day, we showcased some of his adventures in the top end. GB has provided self insurance claims management services to all Territory government staff since November 2017.
In the short time since, over 18,000 bears have been delivered as part of our commitment to giving back to our communities and our goal of seeing the bears in every emergency service and police vehicle in Australia.
To see more of his adventures, make sure you follow us on LinkedIn.